Brewing the tea, Iryna poured two cups; she decided she’d not be turning over any cards by herself again.

The vivid, larger-than-life images of that other world wouldn’t leave her.

The knotty tentacles of the upright Cerberus were still flashing before her eyes. Her ears resounded with the broken floorboards; the damp smell of the abandoned house tickled her nostrils; her whole body felt the anxious vibration of wooden strings.

Her kitchen now seemed a pale imitation of the true reality that had stunned her with a storm of sensations only a few minutes before.

When she came back to the table, Valery passed her the deck again. She took it warily, wondering what else it could be hiding, what monsters were born by the unknown creator’s perverted imagination.

She cast a glance at the deck’s owner. Could it be him who created this world from these cards?

But the wizard just turned over another piece of deceitful paper reality, oblivious to her inquiring stare…or preferring to ignore it.

The next picture was almost black-and-white: a bright flash of light tearing apart the viscous darkness of a strange room, highlighting the lopsided shelves and overturned pieces of furniture.

In the middle of the room, gleaming in the lightning, stood a monstrous, iron-clad boar.

Sliding a look over the monster, Valery closed his eyes and moved his lips silently. Then he opened his eyes, exhaling sharply. Dshhhhh!

In a moment, the card vanished beneath the deck’s flat belly, while the wizard’s fingers flayed another black-and-gold skin from its back.

…Sunbathed mountains. A small building with a round dome, looking like a white-glazed Easter cake. A light-azure sea line behind it. A barely perceptible dark stripe on the ground, as though left by a giant ring of fire.

Valery shot a look at this picture. He half-closed his eyes and moved his lips. Then, staring ahead blankly, he made a strange sound. Bzzzzzzz.

The card vanished beneath the deck.

...A dark room, barely illuminated by the crimson glow of lava that boiled in a round pit in the middle of the stone floor. Squinting, Iryna made out a skinny figure sitting on the pit’s edge.

Hmm. That raggedy boy again.

And what’s that, behind him? A giant statue?

She took a closer look.

Oh goodness!

Standing behind the boy was a half-ape centaur! The monstrous creature appeared to be not merely looming over the boy, but bowing to him!

What’s going on there?

The blue digits on the oven clock showed 3:15 a.m.

Slowly, Iryna drifted off to somewhere in between asleep and awake, feeling strangely numb. Distantly, she registered a repetitive inner monologue playing in her head over the past few hours, a monotonous chain of thought winding around a set of invisible gears.

Is Anya in her bedroom?

Why don’t I go there and check?

I can’t.

What is this man doing in my kitchen?

Am I dreaming?

Drifting in the background were the memories of her recent immersion in the world crafted by some wild imagination, her ears ringing from tension and lack of sleep.

It’s Monday already.

Her memory swarmed with fragments of her conversation with Valery yesterday.

Today I will have to let Anya go on a date with that psycho.

Alone!

Is Anya in her bedroom?

Why don’t I go there and check?

I can’t.

What is this man doing in my kitchen?

Am I dreaming?

The world crafted by some wild imagination.

Ringing in her ears.

It’s Monday already.

Let Anya go on a date with that psycho.

Alone.

Is she in her bedroom?

I can’t go and check.

What is he doing here?

…dreaming?

World.

Ringing.

Monday.

Let.

Alone.

Iryna realized she could not break this damn chain.

Her hands kept shuffling the loathsome deck of cards beyond her will.

The night seemed endless. Iryna felt like she would remain in this semi-dark kitchen forever, standing by the weird man’s side and watching new creepy cards fall down to the table.

More and more of them.

From the number of cards in the deck and the number of those already used by the wizard, they should’ve long started to come up for a second time.

But they didn’t.

Maybe it’s good that this night will never end. If Monday morning never comes, I will not have to let Anya…

Is Anya in her bedroom?

Why don’t I go there and check?

“Iryna? Are you still here?” Valery asked softly.

Giving a start, she lifted her red, sleepless eyes at the wizard. “Yes, Valery. I’m fine. Just…just got lost in my thoughts.”

“Please bear with it a little more.” A shadow of compassion flashed across his black eyes. “We need a few more hours. Anya must complete the cycle there before she comes here. She’s not ready yet.”

“Yes, I understand.” Iryna sighed, looking down and feeling that she’d failed to conceal her annoyance; the wizard could hear it in her voice.

“Never mind, Iryna.” He smiled understandingly. “Everything will be alright.”

Strangely, these simple words warmed her heart, relieving the weight of despair that had been pressing on her temples over the past few hours. Valery’s words resounded through her body like a soothing wave. Never mind…all right…never mind…

“Thank you, Valery,” she said, taking the deck.

…A seashore. A rocky bay. Several half-apes, half-horses dancing around the familiar boy, holding long sticks wrapped on one end, clouds of sand rising from beneath their hooves.

…A mountain valley.

Archers on top. With crossbows? Iryna could not tell for sure. And…and an unfathomable mess down there: a jumble of violet cloaks, weird half-apes, and some other monsters.

The fine-winged Asp and wooden Angel were familiar to Iryna. But the gross, warty toad with a long, stinging tongue and the gleaming, rolling centipede definitely weren’t.

Fortunately, she couldn’t see either of the kids involved in this mess.

Good. With a sigh of relief, she checked the wizard’s face—and saw that he was not happy at all.

Puzzled, she returned her gaze to the picture, scrutinizing it for the children’s figures among the rocks and flashing monsters.

…A landscape of incredible beauty. Cold, ringing-blue sky. Vast, endless space, a lone mountain with a broad base and flattened top, cloaked in the milky veil of clouds.

Amazing. No creepy things at last. And this white mountain…it looks so much like a tooth!

Iryna smiled, wishing she could put her face against the cold wind and drink a lungful of the crystal-pure, crisp air, enjoying the primal beauty of this place.

No kids’ figures visible—again. But she hoped they were there, safe and sound...and happy.

The cards flashed faster and faster. Or so it seemed to her. She was no longer surprised that the cards never repeated. With her senses dulled, she simply watched the dancing kaleidoscope of pictures and shuffled the deck when needed.

4:10 a.m.

The sequence of cards merged into a single flow of images; no way to tell where one ended and another began.

…Scattered, tiny people with hammers, broad-axes, and chisels in hands, running away…

…a giant steel worm breaking from under the ground and crushing the scaffolding around a half-finished building…

…sky black with soot. Gray puffs of smoke. White splashes of scorching lava from the crimson rivers covered with a dark, crackling crust as they cooled down, creeping into the boiling sea, shrouded in dense fog…

…endless sea crossed by a living kayak with two kids…

…boy attacking a wounded violet-cloaked soldier with a dagger.

Anya burying her face in her hands.

“What does that mean?” Iryna looked up at the wizard inquiringly. “Are they…killing people?”

Valery frowned, clenching his jaws. Peering at the last card, he answered, “Looks like she’s about to come back.”

His gaze slid to the clay figurine of a girl on the burner. Iryna had totally forgotten it, paying no attention to it, even when making tea. So long ago,…as if in another life.

A flash of violet fire. “He came for you. Run. Leave your fear there. Then come back and prevail. Keep her safe, Asp.”

She struggled to believe it was about to end. “Will you burn her…this girl…again?”

“Yes. I must do it to bring Anya home.”

He passed her the hateful deck again. Shuffling it deftly, Iryna returned it to the wizard. This time he muttered over it for a long while before turning the upper card.

Something went wrong, Iryna realized. Or…or it’s going wrong.

At last, he put the card down on the table.

It showed Anya walking away from a disheveled boy who scowled at her back.

Is this good? Or bad? Iryna was confused.

Valery was silent. She didn’t dare ask him any questions.

A moment later, to the table fell a card portraying a gray-skinned giant who grinned angrily, baring his crooked, yellow teeth and lifting a big club studded with stone spikes.

Taking his eyes off the giant, Valery said, “Now listen to me carefully, Iryna.”